PSB-watch: ITV cuts, lottery funding, BBC sharing

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â€¢ ITV is looking to save £150m a year by cutting its public service requirements, and has asked Ofcom for more flexibility in its licence, in a move which could see news and regional programming replaced with drama and entertainment. The request was made to Ofcom in ITV’s submission to the regulator’s public service broadcasting review. According to the Sunday Times, the broadcaster believes having PSB status will only be worth £40m a year by 2012, while it currently spends £190m a year on PSB content.

â€¢ In other PSB news, the BBC has commissioned a public survey which has found that most people are opposed to Channel 4 taking a share of the licence fee. According to the Observer, the 10,000-person survey found that viewers would prefer commercial broadcasters were subsidised by lottery funding rather than the TV licence.

â€¢ The BBC is expected on Monday to unveil proposals to share its regional news resources with ITV as an alternative to licence fee-sharing. BBC director general Mark Thompson will outline the proposals in an interview in The Times on Monday.